Seòmar agus comataidhean

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 47110 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S6T-01253

Asked by: Brian Whittle, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Circularity Scotland expects to make £57 million a year by the public failing to return containers, and that this is part of the company's business model.

Question reference: S6T-01247

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the EIS vote to accept the latest pay offer, what assessment is being undertaken to understand any impact of days lost as a result of industrial action on children’s education and the school environment.

Question reference: S6F-01928

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will provide police with access to all correspondence, transcripts, meeting notes and other communications with ministers, its officials and with the Scottish Prison Service, to assist with the investigation regarding the Allan Marshall case.

Question reference: S6F-01919

Asked by: Craig Hoy, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government has made any assessment of the effect that long A&E waits have on patient mortality.

Question reference: S6F-01913

Asked by: Ariane Burgess, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the First Minister, ahead of the publication of the next report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change next week, what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that Scotland plays a leading role in tackling the global climate emergency.

Question reference: S6F-01912

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the UK Government's Spring Budget.

Question reference: S6F-01907

Asked by: Douglas Ross, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01908

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2023

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-15104

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how often NatureScot has used its full enforcement powers, in light of the direction from the Scottish Ministers in 2017 that the then Scottish Natural Heritage “take a tougher approach to dealing with non-cooperative landowners, using the full range of enforcement powers at its disposal”.

NatureScot has a range of legislative powers available to them under the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996. A summary of how NatureScot has used those powers since 2017 has been provided in the following table:

Section of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996

Description

Extent of use since 2017

Requirement for deer management plan

Control Agreement

Control agreements in operation each year

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Control Scheme

None.

Emergency Powers

Statutory Return

Requests are sent to 3300 properties annually. NatureScot received returns from 2730 in 21/22. A further 1500 properties have submitted returns between 2017 and 2022.

40A

Require number planned to be killed

None.

Question reference: S6W-15151

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 13 March 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress Scottish Water is making with (a) woodland creation, (b) woodland management and (c) peatland restoration on its land, as part of its Net Zero Emissions Routemap.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, I have asked Douglas Millican, Chief Executive, to respond. His response is as follows:

Scottish Water completed an exercise with the James Hutton Institute in 2021-22 to understand the current carbon capture on its landholdings and to baseline performance. This has enabled Scottish Water to identify areas where it can improve carbon performance. Scottish Water is planning to survey and restore all circa 4400Ha of poor condition peatland on its land that were identified in the baseline exercise. In addition, it is working with other landowners to identify peatland for restoration where the poor condition peat has an impact on raw water quality. This programme of work has been underway for several years with a focus on water quality, and now has added benefit of carbon reduction.

In parallel, Scottish Water has been reviewing all of its landholdings for their potential for woodland creation. In 2021-22 they created 100ha of new woodland and are developing several schemes to increase this. In developing the plans for each site, Scottish Water engages with its tenant farmers to ensure that the plans integrate with the needs of the tenant. Scottish Water’s largest land holding is the Loch Katrine estate, where over the last two years it has been working in partnership with Forestry and Land Scotland to develop a 10 year land management plan. This was submitted to Scottish Forestry for approval in February 2023. The draft plan proposes the creation of some 4600Ha of new woodland. This landscape scale plan has involved close working with communities and stakeholders such as the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority.